Alfriston to Eastbourne – the Final Leg

Last night was colder than cold. This sleeping bag only comes out in summer now. Very little sleep so I’m making this the last leg, finish in Eastbourne and pick it up again from there later in the year. Be glad, for the song has no ending. Thanks Mike and Robin. May the long time sun shine upon you both. Their songs place them back in childhood, like The Iron Stone, where Robin finds a meteorite on a beach and takes it home. ‘A man told me it came from the moon’. Beautiful, and that finishes with Mike’s sitar and Robin’s guitar duelling to the final note. Incredible String Band. 

Now, with a breakfast inside me I felt stronger and was looking forward to another cold but sunny day. The downs were rolling, like giant green waves.



I had booked a B&B to reward myself tonight. Hooray.

The views opened up.

The gorse is coming out now and it smells fabulous. Bottle it. And the wild garlic in the woodland smells great too. 

Dropping down to Jevington there was an old church that drew me in to pay some respects.

And there in a sunny plot against a wall was the grave of Lord Shawcross, an MP but more famously the chief British prosecutor at Nuremberg. 

And round the corner was the house where Banoffi Pie was invented nearly 50 years ago. 

A last look back at the Way.

And a look forward to the end by the sea. 

Before finally the route dropped down to Eastbourne. 

The end of the South Downs Way was the end of this walk for me. 

It was 100 miles on the Way and 170 in total in miles on my route from Sandbanks. A great walk in difficult conditions. And a classic view from my B&B. 

Thanks for following my blog. It helps a lot that you’re with me through thick and thin. I’ll be blogging back in June, trekking along the north Brittany coast with my daughters Tone and Georgie. That will be a gas. Cheers my dears and………….

Night night.